Pokemon Pirates
by Flabberjiggles
Summary: It was supposed to be a simple merchant job for Cody, and nothing more. But a pirate attack leads to a new life for him as a pirate. His adventures will take him to the ends of the earth and beyond, fighting for glory, allies, and treasure. Yar-har!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My eyes flutter open slowly. The first thing I am aware of is the darkness around me. Total darkness. I can't see anything in front of me. I try to move my paw in front of my face to confirm I haven't gone blind, but I find my arms and legs still bound by thick ropes. I start to panic, afraid that my eyes have failed me and I can no longer see. I shift around, then bump into a warm, soft shape next to me. I recoil at first, until I realize that it is another Pokemon.

"Hello?" I call out hesitantly, quietly, to the darkness.

No answer. Immediately I'm afraid that the Pokemon next to me is dead, then realize that it's still warm, so it can't be dead. I try to push the blob with my body a few times, assuming they're asleep.

The Pokemon groans. "Mmmmmmmmm...what? What's going on...?"

"Feri?!" I exclaim, recognizing the voice of my best friend.

"Hmmmmm?" He responds sluggishly.

"Feri! Wake up! You have to wake up!" I prod him harder.

"Mmmmmm...Cody? Heh, I can't see anything...What time is it? Why-" I feel him start to squirm next to me.

"Uh-oh. Where are we Cody? What's going on? And why can't I see?" He says, starting to panic. "Oh God! Pirates! The last thing I remember-"

"Yeah. We're...probably captured by pirates." I reply dryly.

He groans. "Why us? We aren't important members of the crew! This isn't what I thought would happen from a job as a simple deckhand."

I murmur my agreement. I try to shift around and figure out our surroundings, but the darkness ensures that there is nothing I can do short of feeling around with my tail.

"Is there anyone else down here with us?" Feri asks me.

"Not that I can tell." I yawn.

I realize the last thing that I should have been doing before we were captured was sleep. I am exhausted. I shift around a bit, trying to get comfortable and rest my eyes for a moment.

"Cody...what are we going to do?" Feri whimpers to me.

"Well...there's nothing we can do, right now at least, except for wait." I sigh back.

I allow my mind to wander back to the moment where Feri and I were separated on the ship. I tell myself there was nothing that we could've done, over and over, to prevent me from blaming myself. I am extremely anxious normally, about the dumbest things, when I allow my mind to wander. I know that I'll start blaming myself for us getting captured, so I have to keep reminding myself that there was nothing I could've done. I hear Feri sigh next to me. I know that no matter what, I'll try to protect Feri. He is the only friend I've ever had, and I'm not ready to lose that quite yet.

Suddenly, I see a light. It is small at first, but instantly widens into a large shape. Not understanding why I still can't see, I try to wrap my mind around why my vision is so blurry. Finally I realize- Feri and I were blindfolded. I hear multiple sets of quiet footsteps walk into the room that Feri and I are in, the wooden floor creaking. I decide to stay quiet, and pretend I'm still asleep. I can only hope that Feri is as sensible. Heavy breath makes a loud rasping noise, getting nearer and nearer, until I hear the sound of a sword being unsheathed. Realizing what is about to happen, Feri and I start to panic.

"No! No please don't hurt us!" Feri cries.

I start trying to move backwards, but my bonds are too tight. The figure is right next to me. I can see the glint of the sword through my blurry vision, and I brace myself for death. I feel the sword fall next to me, barely brushing my arms and legs. My arms and legs fall apart. I can move. The Pokemon cut my bonds. I sigh in relief, then hear the swish of the sword again as it cuts Feri's bonds. One of the figures bends down by me. Finally, I feel a rough tugging sensation at the back of my head. A blindfold. That's why my vision was blurry. I curse my stupidity. The blindfold falls, to reveal a Wartortle of medium build, flanked by two Squirtles and a Poliwhirl. I turn to stare at Feri, and the fear in his eyes is apparent.

"Come with us." The Wartortle announces in a deep voice, immediately snapping my attention back to him. He beckons.

Feri and I rise, and the two Squirtles move on either side of us, with the Poliwhirl flanking us. The Wartortle sets forward, moving out of the open doorway and down a hallway made of wood. Fear is filling my head as we walk, and I do not know what is going to happen to us, but what I do know is that death is a possibility. We walk through multiple hallways, and through an open doorway along the way I see Squirtles and Wartortles playing cards at a table, Poliwhirls fistfighting through another door, and Oshawotts and Dewotts fighting with long, curved swords in another. Sweat drips down my nose as we walk. I turn to glance at Feri, but he is stoically facing forwards, not moving anything other than his feet. He is sweating heavily as well. Our four captors do not turn to look at us once during the walk. At last, we arrive at a large door at the end of a hallway. The Wartortle walks up to the door and knocks. No answer.

"Captain?" He says, knocking again.

"Enter." A deep gravelly voice responds.

The Wartortle grips the doorknob and opens the door, gesturing for Feri and I to enter. He motions for the Squirtles and Wartortle to wait outside. As I enter the first thing I notice is the large windows opposite us. They cover the entire back wall of the room, revealing a view of the vast ocean before us. A massive Blastoise stands with his back to us. The walls are adorned with rusty swords, muskets, and old treasure maps, or so I assume. A large bed sits in the corner, with multiple tables with maps on them sitting haphazardly throughout the room. The Wartortle closes the door behind us.

"Here are the prisoners Cap'n. One Eevee and one Poliwag." He announces.

The Blastoise slowly turns around. His gaze fixes me first, then Feri. I gasp in shock, as does Feri. One of his eyes is covered by an eyepatch. He turns back to the window.

"You've never seen a pirate before have you?" He asks aloud.

"No sir- I mean Captain, I mean, er-" I stumble.

"Quiet." He rumbles.

I start to sweat profusely, afraid that I have made a bad impression already. I assume that this captain is going to decide our fate and we need to not make him angry, or dislike us, or anything really that would make him want to kill us. Feri is staying silent.

"Listen to what I'm about to say cuz I won't repeat it." He says to us, his back still to the window.

I prepare to listen closely.

"I have two options for what I could do with you. Option 1, is I could execute you."

"No, no you can't!" Feri cries. "I promise we aren't bad. We won't, uh do anything bad or-"

"Give me one good reason why I should let you live, and I will. I'm a Pokemon of my word." He states.

I panic, realizing that Feri and I have none. We are simple deckhands on a merchant ship that went down to pirates. We have no goods to offer, no knowledge that he could want, no skills he could put to use. I cannot think of a way out of this. Unless...

"Because-" I start.

The door behind us slams open. A squirtle rushes in.

"Not now Deir! This is important!" The other Wartortle says urgently. The Blastoise has anger in his glare now as he turns to look at the newcomer.

"Captain Bluebeard! Another ship approaches!" The Squirtle announces, in a panicky tone.

"And that's a good enough reason to interrupt this meeting?" Bluebeard says angrily.

"Captain, it's Redbeard." The Squirtle says, gulping.

Bluebeard's eye widens. He seems to be thinking for a moment, but then a dark gaze affixes his face. "Liow, stay with the prisoners." He says, motioning to the Wartortle. Liow nods. "Deir-" He turns back to the Squirtle. "Tell the crew to man their battle stations."

The Squirtle nods and sprints out of the room. Bluebeard turns back to us. "I will resume this meetings afterwards." He glances at Liow before stepping out the door and closing it behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Sit down, and don't talk, the both of you!" Liow snarls at us. "Bad enough I don't get to fight in the battle, but I have to watch you two landlubbers while I'm at it."

He grimaces and sits down in the chair behind the captain's desk, then puts his feet up on the desk. I glance at Feri, who looks mortified, staring straight ahead at the wall and breathing quickly. I try to listen to what's going on above decks, but we seem to be to low for me to hear anything. I let out a pent-up breath I didn't realize I was holding. I had no story that could've gotten us out of the previous situation, other than that we did nothing to him and his crew, which he seemed unlikely to accept that as a reason to let us live. The Squirtle walking in us saved our lives. If I ever get a chance, I'll thank him. Left alone with my thoughts, I would start thinking about what would've happened if the Squirtle hadn't walked in, so I force the thought out of my mind.

We sit in silence, simply waiting for what seems like hours. Nothing happens except for Liow taking out a dagger. The grating of the dagger against the scabbard made Feri and I start. He starts to flip it around with one of his hands. Finally, the silence is broken with a loud boom.

Liow turns his head and looks out the window. "What was tha-"

An explosion rocks the side of the ship. Feri and I are thrown to the side of the cabin and then to the ground. Liow is knocked off of his chair, also onto the ground. "What the hell!?" Liow exclaims.

I dizzily climb to my feet. When the ship rocked, I hit my head on the wall. My head is ringing and I am seeing black spots in my vision.

"Stay here." Liow tells us, starting for the door. "If I found out that you moved, I will personally gut you and string you from the mainmast. Got it?" Then he freezes.

"Wait a second….we're sinking!" He stares out the back window. I turn my head to look. The ocean is indeed much higher up than it was before. He immediately turns and rushes through the door, slamming it behind him. I stare at the back of the door in panic, turning and looking at Feri.

He whimpers. "What are we going to do, Cody? They won't let us come with them if they have escape boats!"

I look out the window at the rising water, which is now halfway up the window. "I don't think that they have escape boats. Every single Pokemon in their crew is a Water type Pokemon. Which means…" I gulp.

Feri finishes my sentence for me. "...you're the only Pokemon on this ship who can't swim."

I nod. My mind races. Is there some way for me to still survive this? I know that Feri will survive, but whether he's willing to leave me or not…

A sudden cracking sound behind me brings me back to reality. I spin around. The glass of the window, which now is giving a view of the ocean, is breaking.

"It's the water pressure!" I yell to Feri. "We have to get out of here!"

I run to the door, slam it open as fast as I can, and sprint out of the open doorway. I turn and look behind me to make sure that Feri is following. He's right on my heels, waddling as fast as he can. I face forwards once again just in time to see the hallway branch into several hallways. I pick one and start down it. There are two doors on either side of the hallway, which is a dead end, and they are equally across from each other. I try the first door on the right. Its locked. Trying not to panic, I spin around and try the door on the other side. Nothing. I turn and run down the hallway, opening the next door on the right. It swings open. I sigh in relief and run inside. As I am about to turn and make sure Feri is behind me, when I behold the contents of the room. Three massive chests fill the sides of the far wall. They are ornately decorated and covered with twisting patterns that wrap up and down and over the sides. I stand there, staring at them. _Are those...treasure chests?_ Feri rushes in behind me.

"Cody, what-" He also stops moving and stares at the chests. We both stand there for a second, then I realize the situation we are in. He turns and looks at me. "Do you think those are...treasure chests?"

"That does seem a bit stereotypical, but...there's only one way to find out." I reply.

I step forward and finger open the latch of the chest in the center, which is surprisingly unlocked. The chest is filled to the brim with gold coins, jewelry, and goblets. But what is most intriguing, is that resting atop this treasure is a brilliant blue stone, with a rain drop symbol on it. I reach out to touch it, then hesitate. I don't what this is

"No, don't touch it!" Feri cries behind me. "It might be dangerous, or trapped, or worse!"

I turn and look at him. He is right. But then the present circumstances rush back to me. It is only a matter of time before the glass breaks and the ship fills with water. It's a miracle it hasn't happened already. I turn back. Acting instinctively, I stretch out a paw and touch the stone. Instantly, a bright blue light fills the room. My body is glowing, and I am filled with energy. I feel myself growing larger, my limbs elongating, my tail growing longer. My ears grow wider and flatten out until they resemble fans sticking out of the sides of my head, and an additional fin grows on the top of my head. A frilly fin grows around my neck, and a fin sprouts from the end of my tail. After a few moments, I feel the energy start to seep out of me. The blue light fades. Feri is staring at me, a look of astonishment on his face. I look down at myself. I am now, well, blue.  
"What...just happened?" I look back up at Feri.

"I think..I think you evolved, Cody!" He exclaims.

"So this means-" I start to reply, but I am cut short when I hear a trickling noise. Water is rushing into the room around the edges of the doorway. Realizing what is happening, I prepare to take a deep breath. Feri does the same. As the water starts filling the room more quickly, the door is blown inward, and the water instantly floods the room. I grab the blue stone and start to swim, for the first time in my life. My powerful tail propels me through the water faster than I've ever gone before, and I turn back down the hallway from where we came from, hoping that Feri is following. I swim through the water until I reach the captain's cabin, and see that the empty back wall where the windows used to be now reveals the open sea. Schools of Remoraid dart by, with Alomomola and Goldeen drifting past more slowly. Coral covers the sea floor. I look up and see the sun as a faint spot at the top of the water. I am elated to see this underwater world, until I notice- my lungs are starting to strain.

I immediately start kicking with my feets and pumping my tail behind me. The sun is growing larger as I quickly propel myself towards the surface of the ocean. My lungs are thirsting for air. As fast as I am going, the surface is far away. I have only three limbs with which to push myself upwards with because of the stone. My legs are starting to strain, and my lungs are about to burst. Finally, when it feels like I can't take it anymore, I break the surface. I gasp loudly, breathing heavily. I gulp in air that has never tasted so good. I grin in relief, and at my newfound evolution. Then a thought crosses my mind- _Feri!_ I turn and look around me in a circle, not seeing him at the surface of the water anywhere near me.

"Feri!" I shout. I take a deep breath, preparing to dive once again, when Feri breaks the surface right next to me.

"Feri! Thank God!" I exclaim.

"Cody!" He says between gasps. "You can swim! And even faster than me!" He starts to smile.

"I know! It's amazing." I reply, reveling in my newfound abilities...until our current situation crashes down on me, once again. "Wait a minute Feri. What exactly are we going to do? We're floating in the middle of the ocean."

"Not exactly," he says grimly, sobering quickly after I remind of our problem, "Behind you. There's an island in the distance."

I turn and look around. In the distance I can see a land mass with a gigantic mountain sprouting from the center and covering most of the island. From what I can see, there are trees surrounding the base. The island looks uninhabited, and very far away.

"It's pretty far, but...what other choice do we have?" He says. I turn back to face him

"I guess it's our only option." I reply slowly. "Alright. Let's get to the island."

I turn around again, and we both start to swim.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The island is much larger than I initially thought. The mountain is at least 2 miles straight up, and the island is wider around than the mountain is tall. In addition, the island is a lot farther than we initially thought. In spite of my newfound abilities, the journey is still difficult, and Feri struggles to keep up with me. We swim for several hours, both using our tail and legs. Once we are within a couple hundred feet of the island, we simply try to allow the waves to wash us onto the beach. I let my arms and legs go limp as a particularly large wave crashes me onto the wet sand. I lay there without moving, letting my exhausted limbs rest after the journey. I wouldn't move even if I could. Even when the water washes over me and engulfs my body, I simply take a breath and wait for it to retract.

After what feels like hours but was probably only a few minutes, I lift my sluggish limbs off of the ground. My body is covered in sand and dirt and I am still exhausted, in spite of the long rest I just took. I am famished as well. The last time I ate food was before the pirates kidnapped us, more than two days ago. I look around for Feri, even though it hurts to move. I see him fast asleep on the sand a few feet away from me, face up. I stumble over to him and shake him on the shoulder.

"Feri."

He opens his eyes slowly. "Can't I just rest a little bit longer? That was really tiring." He mumbles.

"Sorry, but we can't," I reply looking up at the sky. "The sun is starting to set and we need to find shelter, and food and water."

"Fiiiiine." He grumbles. He rises to his feet after I help him up. We both look at each other for a moment, then turn and look at the jungle forest. The trees are so dense that I can't see between two of them as there is another slightly behind them to fill the gap. I approach the edge of the canopy cautiously.

"Sooooo… I guess we have to go in there." I remark.

"I guess we do." He says back to me. "You lead the way?" He asks.

"Sure." I set off into the jungle.

The going is extremely tough. The trees are incredibly dense, and so I have to climb over and around the branches of each tree. I can't see more than a few feet in front of me before my vision is obstructed by the next tree. At this point, I'm willing to give up and stop at the first clearing I encounter. I can only imagine how Feri is getting along. I turn to check.

He is nowhere to be found. I spin in a complete circle, hoping he is on another side of me. Nothing.

"FERI!" I yell his name. "Feri, can you hear me?" Panic is starting to fill me. After hearing no response, I start going back the way we came. Then I realize...I have no idea where we came from. I am completely lost.

"Cody?" I hear a voice say, from right next to me.

"AHHHH!" I yell, jumping up. Then I look down and sigh in relief. "Feri! You scared the crap out of me! Where were you?"

He rolls his eyes. "I was barely even very far behind you! You were just going a little too fast. This is pretty hard for me."

"I know, sorry." I sigh. "I guess I'll...slow down a little bit." Before I start moving again, however, I very faintly hear the sound of metal scraping on metal, like a sword being drawn. I freeze.

"Shhhhhh! Did you hear that?" I whisper to Feri, backing up against a tree.

He looks confusedly at me. "Hear what?"

I hear a twig break from somewhere in the jungle. "I heard a noise." I say quietly. "Don't make any sudden movements or speak loudly." My limbs are tensing up in anxiety as Feri and I stand silently, listening for the source of the noise. I hear another twig snap, then the rustle of branches being moved. Finally a voice calls out, breaking the tension.

"Wait a minute... It's the prisoners!"

Several figures step out from behind various trees in front of us. One drops down from the tree we are pressed against. At the front of them is none other than Liow, our guard. He sheathes his sword as he approaches us. The others reveal to be a Squirtle, Dewott, and two Oshawotts.

"You made it off the ship, by evolving I take it?" He asks me. I nod without saying anything. "Well now I thought we'd seen the last of you! What a surprise this is." The other crewmates simply stare at us, not saying anything. "You'd better come with us then. And don't try anything! We've had a tough day." He motions for his men to follow him away. I look at Feri. Once again, we come to the same realization as when we were first captured- we don't have a choice. I nod at him, and we both start following.

The crewmates lead us along a winding path through the jungle, somehow knowing exactly where to turn in spite of the fact that all of the trees look the same to me. They do not stop, and as a result both Feri and I are panting after a few minutes of walking, but we don't dare call out and ask for a break. After what feels like hours, we finally arrive at the entrance to a clearing. As I step through the opening in the trees, I see what appears to be a makeshift campsite. Multiple canopies made of large leaves are strung across tree branches to make shelters. Several wooden planks support a few of them. A few fires are lit here and there, and some crates are stacked in a pile by the edge. There are very few Pokemon at the campsite. I count three Squirtles, a Wartortle, another Oshawott, two Poliwhirls, a Murkrow, and a Swinub. There is no sign of Captain Bluebeard. I assume that he is off on another scouting trip, as this can't possibly be all that remains of the crew.

"Is this...all that's left of the crew?" I ask Liow as the rest of the scouting party disperses among the campsite.

"Aye." He responds. He sits down on a rock.

"What...happened?" I rejoinder.

He eyes me. "Guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you. Redbeard's ship started firing on us not long after we spotted them, and we knew we couldn't fight back after we were already sinking. Bluebeard gave the order to abandon ship, so we all jumped off and began swimming towards this island." He sighs and rubs his face with his arm. "Redbeard's men were waiting for us in longboats. They fired at us and starting cutting us out of the water. We tried to fight back, but...we were at too much of a disadvantage. I and the rest of these Pokemon submerged below the water to wait for the assault to abate. When they finally left, we made a break for the island. Everyone here is what is left of the mighty Bluebeards fearsome crew." He says bitterly.

"Where is Bluebeard?" I ask.

He looks up at me, a tinge of red in his eyes. "Bluebeard is dead."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"...Dead?" I ask in shock.

"Aye." Liow replies. "We saw him get shot while we were escaping. His body sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Probably rotting there right now."

"I...I'm sorry." I murmur.

"Don't think that just because Bluebeard is gone, we have to like you. You can stay with us only because we need more hands, as short as we are. You will work to stay with us. Got it?" He says menacingly.

"I uh- yes, uh sir." I stammer.

"Yeah, uh me too." Feri says quickly.

"Good. Now go ask Rufus what you can do to help." He says, pointing at the only other Wartortle in the camp. He turns his back on us, and walks away. I stare after him.

"Uh...you first!" Feri says.

"Me? Wha-" I interject, but Feri is already hiding behind me.

I sigh and start to walk slowly, carefully, over towards Rufus. He is missing a hand, and replacing it is a hook. He is rather large for a Wartortle, and a massive cutlass hangs from his belt. He is in the process of yelling at two Squirtles as we approach.

"How are we supposed to sleep under that pile of branches? A single gust of wind would bring that down! My old grandmother could do better than that! Shameful, the both of you. Would have been better if you had gone down with the rest of the crew." He snarls nastily.

The two Squirtles look down in the shame, which only angers the Wartortle even more. "GET BACK TO WORK!"

The Squirtles jump, muttering apologies, and immediately spin around and start dismantling one of the shelters. Rufus turns, still muttering to himself, only to face Feri and I.

I remember what we are supposed to be doing right away. "Uhh Liow said, uh, that we should go talk to you for work." I tell him quickly, not daring to make eye contact.

"Prisoners, eh? Probably good for nothing." He bares his teeth. "Fine, get to work helping Chase and Tubbs over there. They'll tell you what to do. And don't screw up! Or else I'll gut you before you take a single step." He eyes us one last time, then continues walking.

"Nice guy." Feri says to me.

"I know." I mutter back.

We both face the Squirtles, who are slowly assembling a shelter from long sticks, massive leaves, and vines. They apparently dismantled the previous one while Rufus was talking to us. I approach the one closest to us. He looks at us inquisitively as we approach. He looks similar to his counterpart, except slightly wider around the waist.

"Yes?" He asks.

"We uh- I mean Rufus said, that we should help you guys." I stutter.

"Yeah I thought so. Don't worry about Rufus, he's mean to everyone. Come on, you can help us with the back wall."

He points at a pile of long sticks, then explains to us how they are building a shelter. "The goal is to create dense walls of sticks, then secure them with vines and cover the walls with large leaves. It'll help insulate the structure, and provide a strong foundation. We also need to secure the walls and roof to each other to stop some wind or rain from tearing it apart in a second. Oh, and I'm Tubbs by the way." He says.

"I'm Cody, and this is Feri." I reply, surprised at how nice he seems. He is the opposite of what I would assume the stereotypical pirate to be like.

"My friend over there is Chase. Feri, why don't you go ask him what you can do? You may be limited, not having hands, but I'm sure he'll find something." He states.

"Oh, okay." Feri says his voice not shaking for once. He toddles over to the other Squirtle, and they start conversing.

"Now you, help me to secure this wall." He turns back to me.

We talk as we work. Weaving the vines is tedious and repetitive work, and there isn't much else to do. It is interesting to get to know a pirate, one whom I thought for a long time could never be trusted and was essentially evil in all aspects. In reality Tubbs and Chase, and even Liow, are not like that. Of course, there is still Rufus, but maybe he is the exception to the rule and not the others.

"So is Rufus...always that mad?" I ask, straining to tie two sticks together.

"Yeah, but he wasn't always like that." Tubbs responds. "He wasn't this grumpy until Bluebeard chose Liow over him for first mate when our old one died. He thought he was perfect for the job, but apparently Bluebeard thought otherwise. He's even more bitter now because since Bluebeard is gone, Liow is now captain."

"Oh, I see. Thanks." I reply.

"No problem. You should probably avoid getting on his bad side, because he dishes out the worst punishments. I won't even tell you what he once made Chase do."

"Thanks for the advice." I say, wondering more and more about these Pirates' good nature. Tubbs seems to be exactly what a good Pokemon is like, watching out for his fellow Pokemon and lending a helping hand to a newcomer. I glance at Feri to see him similarly engaged in conversation with Chase, for once not looking terrified.

"Alright, we've got all 3 walls and the roof done. Let's string em together!" Tubbs calls over to Chase.

"Yeah." Chase says back.

Tubbs, Feri, and I hold up the three walls, while Chase positions us and ties vines tightly around the edges. After the structure of the three sides is firm, we position the roof on top and tighten it with more vines. At last, Tubbs takes a large leaf and attaches it to a grid of sticks and vines, which he places over the opening as a door.

"Great job guys!" He says, wiping sweat off of his brow. "Let's report back to Liow." He waves to us as he walks away.

The sun is setting at our backs as we head towards the largest structure, one with walls twice as large as the shelter we just made and a peaked roof. Tubbs slows down as he approaches the building, and the reason is apparent as I near him. Voices are arguing urgently inside, loud enough to be heard when standing next to the building but otherwise too quiet to make out. Tubbs turns and faces the three of us and puts a finger up to him mouth, urging us to be quiet. I nod.

"-can't let him stay with us! The fact that he's not a water type alone should eliminate him from contention." I recognize the edgy voice of Rufus.

"Sometimes, you have to overlook things like that." Undoubtedly Liow. "We have never been this short on crew. Never! We can't afford to turn away someone who is strong-willed and able to live alone like he did."

"Listen to yourself! Bluebeard would never have allowed a grass type to join the crew, and neither should you! Bad enough we let those non-pirates join, but now this! What has gotten into you?"

"I thought I told you that them escaping from the ship and surviving until they reached this island was proof enough that they had what it took? In any case, my decision is final. We're letting the Snivy join the crew."

Tubbs gasps. Loudly. The voices inside the shelter abruptly stop. Realizing his mistake, he starts pushing us away frantically, but it's too late. Rufus pushes open the front flap, and all four of us freeze.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't a few little eavesdroppers." He gloats. His face turns into a snarl. "Get inside!"

He moves aside as we walk slowly through the the entrance, heads bent. The flap closes as he follows us inside. My eyes meet Tubbs, but he does not look scared at all, unlike me. He looks back towards Liow after a second. The inside of this shelter is the same as ours, except with several bedrolls and miscellaneous supplies scattered throughout the floor, along with a lit lantern. Liow stands facing us, his arms crossed. He does not look amused.

"So. How much did you hear?" He asks.

"Only the conversation between you and Rufus about a newcomer and onwards, Captain." Tubbs replies almost immediately, surprising me with his willingness to respond.

"Very well. Nothing too bad, you can go." He says, surprising me even more

"Wha- but captain!" Rufus starts, but Liow interrupts him.

"Enough Rufus. Everyone will know soon enough anyways. It is inconsequential."

He turns back to us. "Go on, get out of here. And don't do anymore eavesdropping, got it?"

"Aye aye, Captain." Chase and Tubbs both say in unison. They then turn and beckon Feri and I out of the shelter as quickly as they can.

We step outside and walk a few paces through the darkness before any of us say anything. I can't take it anymore.

"Why did he let us off so easily!" I ask incredulously to Tubbs.

"Meh. All he wants is obedience. I told him the truth, and he was satisfied with it. That's all there is to it." He says, sniffing.

"Oooooooook..." I say, still surprised. Liow doesn't seem like the type that forgives easily. I can't believe how quickly my perception of pirates has changed in a mere few hours. They have gone from savage buccaneers to common privateers in my mind, and I cannot believe it.

"So...what he said about us...Feri and I are apart of the crew?" I say.

"Yup." He responds. "You live with us, and help us, you're apart of the crew. And you don't get to leave except by death! At least, that's what Bluebeard told Chase and I when we joined."

We approach the shelter that we constructed and Tubbs turns away from us towards the stack of crates. He opens one and pulls out several lumps of cloth. He throws one to each of us, then pulls one out out for himself. Chase catches Feri's and drapes it over his head, as Feri

"Beds." He says.

It's a thin piece of cloth that has a pillow attached to one side. The edge is large enough to pull over a Pokemon as a blanket. Tubbs walks over to the hut and pulls the door open. Inside, there is more than enough space for all four of us to be comfortable. It is extremely dark inside. I lay down my bed farthest from the door, bumping into the wall as I do so. The blackness is dark enough that I wish we had a lantern like Liow's tent. Tubbs, Chase and Feri each lay down their cloth on the other sides of the hut. Feri moves his closer to mine. I lay down, feeling both exhausted and hungry, but I wait to see what the other do. Chase and Tubbs lay down on their beds and pull the cover over them.

"Night." Chase says.

"G'night." Tubbs replies, yawning.

Feri whispers over to me. "Goodnight Cody."

"Goodnight buddy." I murmur back. I close my eyes and lay silently, and after a moment Tubbs starts to snore. What a day. I think to myself. Pirates are nice, and Feri and I are apart of them. If someone had told me two months ago that this is what I would be doing in two months, I would have laughed and called them crazy. And yet, here I am. I steady my exhausted limbs as the darkness of sleep encloses me.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I am shaken awake the next morning by Feri.

"Dude, if you want breakfast, you gotta get up." He says urgently.

"Oh….yeah." I mumble as I start to stretch. I can't remember the last time I ate. Breakfast is not something I want to miss. I press my paws together to make sure I still have the blue stone. Only Feri knows that I still have it, and I intend to keep it that way.

Feri turns and steps out of the shelter into the sunlight. The bright light hurts my eyes for a moment before I'm used to it. I rise slowly. My limbs still feel weak in spite of the good nights sleep I just got. I stretch again. I slowly step out of the structure to see what the rest of the crew is doing.

Each of the campfires are lit, with a small group of the crewmates around each one. Rufus and Liow sit at their own with the only Dewott left in the crew. Feri is walking towards the campfire that is populated by Tubbs, Chase, the Murkrow, and the Swinub. They are all eating some kind of meat. A carcass is roasting on a stick over their campfire. Feri joins them, sitting down at a log. I walk over and sit at the last empty spot.

"You're the last one to wake, huh?" Tubbs looks up as I approach. "You don't strike me as a heavy sleeper." He hands me a piece of meat.

I accept it gratefully. I devour it in a few moments, and still feel hungry.

"Whoa, when was the last time you ate?" The Murkrow asks. He has a reedy, squeaky voice. His feathers are disheveled, but otherwise he looks in good shape. The Swinub is very small, with brown fur covering his entire body.

"I can't even remember when. It was before Feri and I got captured." I reply, not naming that it was them that captured us. I don't want hostilities to arise, especially with the only crew members that are friendly with us.

"Here, take some more." Tubbs says, tearing a large chunk of meat off of the dead Pokemon and handing it to me. I take it from him and eat it quickly. My hunger has abated slightly, but I'm still far from full.

"Did you guys already eat?" I ask, realizing that I am the only one eating.

"Yep." Feri says. "You kept sleeping when the rest of us got up, and eventually Liow told me to go wake you or else you would miss breakfast."

"He said he has an announcement to make, and then we're going on scouting missions." Tubbs tells me.

"An announcement?" I ask, looking at him.

He doesn't say anything, but simply narrows his eyes. After a moment, I think back to our eavesdropping last night. Liow was saying something about somebody new joining, that wasn't water-type.

"The new crewmember?" I say.

"I think so." He replies.

We sit and talk for several more minutes. Feri and I introduce ourselves to the Murkrow and Swinub, who consequently do the same. The Murkrow is named Gryn and the Swinub is called Ub.

"Your name is not Ub." I say incredulously.

"It is. I didn't choose it, my parents did." He says. His voice is surprisingly deep.

"Wow. That's pretty-" I'm interrupted by Liow, who calls across the camp to everyone.

"Alright mates! Gather round, I have an announcement to make. We all gather around Liow's campfire. The Dewott and Rufus are absent.

"As you know," He starts, "We are very low on hands. The prisoners help a little, but we still have a fraction of what our crew once was. As a result of this, I have decided to allow a, uh, slightly unorthodox acquisition." Rufus and the Dewott approach from the largest shelter, and between them is a Snivy.

The entire crew is silent as the three figures walk. Almost the second that they stop the crew erupts into a caterwauling of loud voices and objections.

"Quiet! Settle down, settle down!" Liow yells. The crew immediately falls silent. Their obedience surprises me. "You're going to have to live with it. Believe me, I don't like it either, but we have no choice. We need more crew members, especially since we're trapped on this island. If I hear that anyone of you attacks him, I will have you whipped and beaten. Got it?"

There is a mutter of "Yes Captain" from the crew.

"Good." Liow says. "Alright, now scouting parties. Rufus will be leading one and Bamlo will lead the other." He says, pointing to the Dewott. "Bamlo's party will be comprised of Tubbs, Ub, Lewis, Joseph, and Feri." One of the Squirtles and one of the Poliwhirls joins Tubbs, Ub and Feri at Bamlo's side. They walk over to the crates to prepare.

"Rufus' party will be Chase, Gryn, Sorson, LeWest, and Cody. Oh, and Adrian is going to join you." He says, pointing at the Snivy. My heart sinks at this. Rufus is unusually brutal and I am afraid of what he might put us up to.

"Alright, get to it!" He says.

Rufus beckons us over, as a Poliwhirl and Oshawott join Gryn, Chase, and I, as well as Adrian. Rufus heads over to the crate and begins pulling out supplies, which he hands to each of us in turn, finally giving me a belt with a short knife.

"You'll be keeping that belt, so if you screw it up or lose it, you ain't getting a new one. Understood?" Rufus says to me.

I nod. The dagger is straight, and thankfully, not rusty. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to fight. I decide to stay silent. I fasten the belt around my waste. It has several pockets and loops as well as a rope. Their is a sheath for the dagger, which I place it in.

"Right. Let's go!" Rufus shouts.

He starts off through a gap in the trees at the edge of the clearing. The crew members fall into line behind him, and I end up at the second to last, with the Snivy behind me. He is completely silent, and he wasn't given a weapon, only a belt. He doesn't say anything when I turn and look at him, so I decide to keep going. The going is tough, as the trees are dense and there is no solid ground for us to walk on, only tree roots. I can only see Chase in front of me and the back of Gryn's tail feathers before the rest of the line is lost from sight through the trees. We occasionally stop to gather fruit or have Gryn fly up to see where we are at. After we walk for several minutes without anything happening, I start to get bored. The trees eventually widen by a little and so we can walk more comfortably. I decide to try to get Adrian to talk, as he looks somewhat awkward. I fall into step beside him.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask.

He says nothing.

"You doing ok?" I inquire, wondering as to his lack of response.

"I'm fine." He says flatly. I am surprised by his hostility.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Nothing, except for the fact that I got attacked by pirates, imprisoned, and then forced to join them." He says, glaring at me.

"Well, that's exactly what happened to me, so I know how you feel."

"What?" He says, sounding slightly surprised.

"I just joined yesterday. I was on a merchant ship that got attacked by these pirates. They got attacked by other pirates, but I escaped with my friend to this island, where they made us join them." I tell him. I'm hoping he might be friendly, but doesn't want to trust a pirate. He could be just as surprised about their true nature as I was yesterday, when I discovered pirates could actually be nice.

"I see." He replies.

"Yeah, it's true." I say.

"I never said it wasn't." He says irritably.

"Where were you before you got captured by them? This island seems uninhabited." I say.

"It's not, but I didn't live here. I was on a ship that got shipwrecked here and I was the only survivor. I've been living alone on this island for years."

"Wait...this island isn't uninhabited?" I ask.

"No. There are two tribes of natives here. One is extremely hostile and the other is quite peaceful. I learned how to avoid them after a while. The peaceful one I traded supplies with. The aggressive one however, were not as friendly. I had to stay off of their territory all the time, which, as a matter of fact, we are almost on right now."

I start. "And you didn't think to say anything?!" I can't believe he would remain silent, just because he doesn't know us. Before I can do anything, Rufus stops walking, and we all look forward at him.

"Quiet!" Rufus says back to the party. "Don't make any sounds. I heard something." We all stop moving and stand in line, looking side to side.

Rufus slowly draws his sword, so as not to make any sound. The others do the same. We stand in silence, waiting. I turn to look at Adrian, who has formed leafy blades upon the top of his arms. I hear a twig snap, and each of us tense.

"It's the natives," Adrian whispers to me, "We're in their territory."

I nod at him, and then draw my dagger. As I do, several spears fly out of the treetops and Pokemon leap out at us from behind several of the trees, shouting cries of battle. Most of the spears miss, but one of the impales our Oshawott through the neck, and he gurgles as he falls. The Pokemon immediately engage our party. A Heracross leaps at Rufus with a spear. It lunges at him but he sidesteps, then decapitates it. A Pinsir runs at him from behind, but he spins around and deflects its spear at the last second, then stabs it through the stomach. Another Pinsir jumps out of tree at Chase, but he rolls out of the way and then kills it with a swing of his cutlass. Two Heracross jump onto the Poliwhirl, but he knocks them off and kills both of them with one swing of his sword. All of this happens in a span of a few seconds, and I am frozen, watching it all occur without doing anything.

"Watch out!" Adrian shouts. As I was standing and watching, a Pinsir snuck up behind me. He draws his spear back to impale me, but Adrian leaps forward and stabs it in the side. It hisses in pain and drops the spear, and then Adrian turns and cuts its head off.

"Are you alright?" He asks me.

"Yeah I'm fine, thanks." I pant.

"Fall back to the camp!" Rufus shouts.

Adrian and I, previously at the back of the party, now become the front, and we turn and start back through the forest the way we came. Adrian takes the lead, cutting through every Pokemon that gets in our way. Chase is right behind me, cutting down Heracross and Pinsir that jump at us from the side.

Somehow, Adrian seems to know the way out of the natives' territory, as he goes through the trees without stopping. After a while, the natives stop attacking us and we stop moving to catch our breath in a small clearing.

"Oh...my...God." Gryn pants as we stand together. "Is...everyone ok?" He says.

"Wait a minute...where is Rufus?!" Chase says.

"He was right behind me!" The Poliwhirl says.

Chase turns back to where we came from. "Rufus!" He yells.

"Be quiet, you idiot!" Adrian hisses at him. "Do you want the natives to chase us further?"

"Shut up." Chase says, pushing him away. "You just joined. You don't know how important Rufus is. We can't leave him behind, he is our first mate!"

"I know that we can't go back that way to look for him, it's too dangerous. The natives will tear us apart!" Adrian says angrily at him.

"We don't take orders from you!" Chase shouts.

LeWest the Poliwhirl puts a hand on Chase's shoulder. "I...don't think we should go back for Rufus, Chase. He's not exactly the nicest of guys, and...I'm pretty sure he wouldn't go back for one of us."

Chase sighs. "Fine. Let's...get back to camp and tell Liow what happened. But I won't be the one to deliver the news."

LeWest nods, then beckons for Gryn to lead the way. We walk through the trees for a while, with Gryn flying up to check our location several times, but nothing eventful occurs. I reminisce about the encounter with the natives as we walk. I was completely useless during the attack. I have no idea how to fight. Becoming a pirate doesn't actually seem so bad, but I cannot very well be one without knowing how to fight. Unless, Adrian can teach me. He showed aptitude with a blade while we were fighting, made of leaf as it was. I'll probably ask him if I can talk to him when we get back.

We approach a familiar swath of trees. Gryn flies ahead through the gap that leads to the clearing, calling for Liow. We stumble through the opening, and the crewmates at the camp rush up to us and start asking us questions. Liow races out of his shelter towards LeWest and Chase. He pushes aside the other crewmates.

"Where is Rufus, and Sorson?" He demands.

LeWest sighs and looks down. "Sorson is dead. He got impales through the throat by a spear. We encountered some natives of the island, and they attacked us."

"And Rufus?" Liow thunders.

LeWest looks down at his feet. "We lost him. He's gone Captain."

"Gone? What do you mean, gone?"

"We were fleeing the natives through the trees, and after a while, they stopped attacking us. We stopped to rest in a clearing and when we looked around, Rufus was nowhere to be found." LeWest responds.

"Blast," says Liow, "Where were you attacked by natives? I need to be sure we do not go through the area again."

"I'm...not exactly sure,"says LeWest. "It all happened so fast."

"I can tell you." Adrian steps forward.

"What?" Liow says.

"I know the borders of the natives' territory. If we hadn't been going so fast I could've told Rufus where it was, but he did not stop. I also know where there is a friendly tribe of natives that can give us supplies." Adrian replies.

"You can take us to these friendly natives, you say?" Liow rejoinders.

"Yes. They know me from my years here." Adrian responds.

"Fine. You're going to take us to them, when the other scouting party gets back, and if I find out that you're lying, I'll make you regret the day you were ever born."

"I understand."

"Good." Liow says. And with that, he turns and walks back to his shelter.

The group of crew members disperse and the ones that remained at the camp start pestering our group with questions. Adrian walks off on his own to the shelter he stayed in the previous night. I follow him.

"Hey, Adrian." I start.

"What." He turns.

"I wanted to thank you for saving me back there. I know this sounds cheesy, but I would be dead if you hadn't stopped that Pinsir." I tell him.

"Dont mention it." He says. He starts to walk again.

"Wait!" I say, not wanting to lose my chance. "I was wondering if, you could maybe...teach how to fight?"

He stops walking, and stand thinking for a moment. After what seems like hours, he finally respinds. "I guess it wouldn't hurt."

"Yes! Thank you." I exclaim.

"No problem." He says. "Meet me outside your shelter in ten minutes. I have to do something."

"Sounds good to me," I say, "But we're starting right now?"

"There's no time like the present." He says. And with that, he ducks into his shelter and covers the opening behind him.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Adrian sighs and puts his head in his hands.

"You are literally the worst at this." He says.

After he agreed to teach me to fight, we met in front of the shelter that I sleep in. He led me to a part of the jungle behind his shelter that opened up to a small path. The path led to a clearing, where he had retrieved two long and thick sticks. He handed me a stick, then started to teach me how to correctly hold a sword and how to stand when fighting with a sword. I got through that easily enough. However, once we got to the actual learning to fight, I could not do a single thing he instructed me to.

"I've never even held a sword before! How would I be able to do this stuff on my first try?" I retort.

"You could at least hold onto your stick whenever you block, or get blocked! You have to hold onto your sword for more than one exchange when you're actually fighting. It doesn't even seem like you're trying." He says, glaring at me.

"It just─doesn't feel right." I reply.

As bad as I am at this, I really am trying my best to do what he is instructing me to. No matter how hard my grip on my stick, the first time our weapons meet I instinctively drop it from the collision. I am focusing as hard as I can, but I drop the stick every time. I don't want to disappoint Adrian, as he is the only one competent at swordfighting that I am willing to approach. Tubbs and Chase seem likeable enough, but given their loyalty to Liow, I feel certain that if I asked, he would know about it.

"Let's try again." He says, standing up and holding out my stick.

"Allright." I sigh.

We take up the positions he taught me, one hand on the sword and the other held out for balance. I root my feet the way Adrian told me to and take a deep breath, which I let out slowly.

"Ready?" He asks.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I mutter.

We agreed to exchange blows one at a time due to me being a novice at this, but one blow is the farthest we have gotten so far. Adrian is completely calm and composed, holding his stick out in front of him, his eyes narrowed at me. I know he's going to attack at a moment's notice, so I can't look away. Suddenly, he dashes towards me, slashing his stick out and around to the right. I turn my stick to block it, but as soon as we meet I wince and drop mine. He lets his arms fall to his side and swears.

"God dammit, Cody! You aren't that bad at the actual fighting itself, because I notice you always know where I'm going to attack from. But none of that matters if you can't hold onto your sword in a fight." He growls. "Anyways, we've been gone for too long. We don't want the crew to wonder where we've gone. Besides, the sun is setting and it's probably going to be dinner time soon."

I nod in silent agreement. He takes my stick and throws it into a nearby bush, and then we both head over to the center of the camp. As though the crew heard what we both said, Liow is exiting his shelter and heading to the center of the camp to announce dinner.

"Right lads. We'll be rationing today since one of our scouting groups turned up without anything. No more than eight pounds per Pokemon." He announces.

The crew lines up by the food storage shelter and starts taking an amount of bread and meat. I race into line behind Feri, who is chatting with Tubbs.

"Oh, Cody! Where have you been?" Feri says, looking up as I approach.

"I was uh, just meditating." I say, trying to keep from sweating or looking nervous.

"Oh. Then why do you look so nervous?" He asks. Tubbs is looking at me inquisitively as well.

"Oh, I just ran here when I heard Liow announce it. I'm just a little out of breath, that's all." I stammer.

"Oh, ok!" Feri says.

Tubbs however, looks a little skeptical. He is still looking at me curiously when I grab my dinner from one of the crates. Tubbs and Feri grab their food and we walk over to the campfire where Chase, Gryn, and Ub are sitting. I look back to see Adrian grab his food and disappear into his shelter. I would like to ask him to sit over here, but I don't want to possibly reveal that he was teaching me to fight.

We talk as we eat, but Tubbs is unusually quiet. I occasionally steal a glance at him, but he is staring straight ahead, eating silently. After we are all finished, I stand to follow Feri back to our shelter, but Tubbs puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" He asks.

"Uh, sure, I guess." I say, trying to stay calm.

"I'll see you guys back at the shelter, then." Feri says, yawning.

"Thanks. We'll just be a moment." Tubbs says, turning back to me.

He waits for Feri to leave, then immediately turns back to me and narrows his eyes.

"We both know you weren't "meditating" for two hours straight, and then you were sweating nervously when you came back." He says. "I want to think the best of you. I know you're a good Pokemon at heart."

He sighs and looks up at the stars, then back to me. "So please tell me that whatever you were doing, whatever it was, that it wasn't bad, and it won't do anything to harm this crew." His eyes appear very watchful as he waits for my response.

"It's not, I promise you. I would never do anything to hurt this crew." I tell him. It's not a lie, so I can say it without my voice shaking or my limbs trembling.

"Allright." He says, sighing. "I going to trust you on this one Cody. Please don't let me down."

He turns and starts to walk back to the shelter. After he is out of sight, I sigh loudly. I definitely dodged a bullet. Tubbs is an honorable Pokemon, but his loyalty to Liow is precedent. I have to be more careful, and not be seen with Adrian in public in the future.  
"Hey." I hear a voice behind me say.

"Whaaaa─!" I exclaim, jumping forward. I spin around. It's just Adrian.

"Dude. Don't do that! You scared the crap out of me!" I say angrily.

"Shhhhhhhhh! Be quiet!" He whispers. "We don't want to wake anyone up."

I drop my voice. "Right. Sorry. You just...scared me, that's all."

"I saw your talk with Tubbs." He says pointedly.

"You did?" I ask.

He nods in confirmation.

"So...why are you telling me?"

"You handled that well. If someone found out that I was teaching you, we would not be able to continue."

"You mean...we're going to keep going?" I ask in astonishment.

"Unless you don't want to." He says.

"Wha─no, of course I want to continue!" I say quickly.

"Alright then. Meet me behind my tent at the same time tomorrow. And don't let anyone follow you, or see you go. Got it?" He looks at me.

"Uh, yeah. I won't." I stutter.

"Fine. See you then." And with that, he turns and walks away quietly, barely making any noise as his feet touch the ground. After a moment, I turn and walk back over to my own shelter, the one that I share with Tubbs, Chase, and Feri. The only other Pokemon still awake in the camp are the night watch, LeWest and a Squirtle. I manage to reach my shelter without being spotted, as the wet grass muffles my footsteps. As I crawl into the shelter, I don't hear any noises from my three roommates. They must all be asleep already. My eyes close and I drift off into sleep almost immediately.

Over the next few days, Adrian teaches me the basics of fighting with a sword. Luckily, Tubbs did not press the issue after that night, but unfortunately, I still do not improve. After several hours each day for three days, almost nothing has changed in my ability to fight with a sword. I still recoil upon our first contact when we start to practice, I can't memorize the forms he teaches me, and I constantly lose my grip on the stick. However, Adrian does not seem dismayed at my lack of progress. He seems to only be trying harder to get me to learn. Despite his best efforts, however, after a week I still cannot complete more than a single exchange.

"Cody. You are so ridiculously bad at this." He remarks in exasperation.

I sigh. "I know, you don't have to rub it in."

"Again." He says.

In spite of the miniscule gains we have made, the lessons have allowed me to get to know Adrian a little better. As antisocial and reclusive as he is, once he became comfortable around me he began to let his guard down. His personality is somewhat similar to my own, with his sarcastic remarks and stubbornness. I would never have guessed the Pokemon he was hiding within himself, the Adrian that the crew doesn't know exists.

I drop my stick once again as I block a lunge from Adrian.

"Alright, you know what? This isn't working." He says. "We're going to use real weapons."

"Wait─what?" I say, not sure that I've heard him right.

"We're going to use real swords. This is the only way I can think of to help you maintain a grip on your sword. If you have an actual handle to hold onto, maybe you'll be able to keep your hold on it." He explains.

"Well...if you think it will work." I way uncertainly.

"Right. Now the only problem is that we're going to have to steal some. You were only given a dagger, and me, nothing. We have to─"

I cut him off. "Whoa whoa whoa. We are NOT stealing two swords from the crew. They will definitely kill us if they find out. And they're definitely going to notice that two swords are missing."

"This is the only way." Adrian says. "Unless you don't want to learn anymore?"

"I─" This makes me hesitate. As much as I don't want to steal from the crew, I want to be able to defend myself far more. As wrong as it will feel, we may have a chance of getting away with it.

"Stop!" Another voice calls out from behind me. Adrian and I both freeze. I slowly turn around, fearing the worst.

It's Feri.

"Feri! What─what are you doing here?" I call.

"I saw you and Adrian and leave together, without telling anyone where you were going. So I followed you." He says, hopping down towards us. "And I overheard everything that you guys said." He looks unhappy, upon closer inspection.

"Look, Feri. Adrian was just teaching me to fight, because I need it. We both do, to be honest. We can't be apart of this crew if we don't learn how to fight." I reason. I need to make Feri see my motives if I'm going to prevent him from telling the rest of the crew.

"Well, but I─hmmmphhh." He stops talking. He appears to be deep in thought.

Finally, after what feels like hours, he looks up at me. "Cody, you're my best friend. I know you would never do anything wrong on purpose. You're a good Pokemon." He stops for breath.

"But going behind Liow's back to do something like this is the most likely way that we're going to get kicked out, or worse, killed." He looks up.

"I won't tell the crew. But you have to promise me that you won't do this again. Or anything like this! Ok?" His eyes seem almost pleading.

I look back at Adrian. His face is a blank slate. His eyes meet mine, but he doesn't say or do anything to indicate whether I should agree to Feri's terms of not. I look back at Feri. His face seems almost desperate. I stare at him for another moment as I think.

"Alright. I won't."

He nods. Without saying a word, he turns around and starts to return to the camp. I wait until he leaves before I turn back to speak with Adrian.

"I'm sorry, Adrian. His friendship means too much to me. It's the only thing I have left, from my old life." I say.

"Don't worry. I understand what it feels like." He says curtly. He does not seem angry. On the contrary, he seems approving of my actions, in spite of the fact that it ends my lessons with him. "I'm going to go back to the camp by myself so they don't see us together." And with that, he walks slowly into the gap in the trees that leads back to the camp, leaving me alone with the two sticks and the decision that I just made. I do not know if I made the right choice, but what I do know is that I will pick Feri over Adrian, every time.


End file.
